Bust of A Male God (Serapis?)
DatePtolemaic Period, 200-101 BCE
PeriodPtolemaic Egypt
Place MadeEgypt, Africa
MediumBronze
Dimensions5.5 x 5 x 2.5 cm (2 3/16 x 1 15/16 x 1 in.)
Credit LineGift of Drs. John and Bessie Sawhill
Object number2022.2.40
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThese three small bronze busts depict Isis-Aphrodite, Harpocrates, and a male god, possibly Serapis. All three are syncretic gods: Serapis combined Osiris (the Egyptian god of fertility and the afterlife) with Apis (an intercessionary, sacred bull), and Isis-Aphrodite integrated the Egyptian goddess of healing and magic with the Greek goddess of beauty and fertility. Harpocrates, the god of silence and confidentiality, corresponded to the child form of the Egyptian god Horus. The statuettes represent the divine family, with Serapis and Isis-Aphrodite as the parents, and Harpocrates as the child. These syncretic forms are typical of the Hellenistic period, when Greek culture dominated the Mediterranean.
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